Episode 1: Introducing Ikumi and Yuki! The Reaper and the Shade?
Tsubaki- It is a normal day at Death-Weapon-Meister-Academy, in a normal classroom, as Tsubaki stares down the rows of seats at the boy she loved. A weapon like her, rumored to already be a Death Scythe. She stared at Soul Eater Evans, with his beautiful- not to mention surprisingly soft- hair, his sharky grin, his “cool” attitude. She loved everything about him. But actually asking him, that was little more than a distant dream to her. The very thought of asking him out racked Tsubaki’s nerves beyond belief. She was ripped apart inside about her feelings, she would do anything to gain Soul’s love, but she didn’t want to sacrifice her friends. She was afraid to lose him because of it, afraid of what Maka and Black☆Star might think. She was always one to consider friend’s feelings, and it was frightful to do anything that could risk hurting them. The class continued on as she daydreamed. Black☆Star had skipped yet again, probably in another fight or giving a speech about how he was going to surpass God. Soul was in his mild relaxed form while Maka took down notes, jotting down the material in a state of concentrated determination. It had been one full year since the Kishin was defeated. It had been since before then that she had developed such feelings for Soul. She almost couldn’t take it anymore. But she kept on smiling, no matter how long it took or how much it hurt, waiting on the day that Soul would be hers. -Ikumi Mikamoto- Ikumi walked up the steps of the DWMA, bored out of his mind. He was no ordinary meister, and his weapon, Teina Raito, was no ordinary weapon. They were shades; hybrids of sorts. And he was on a mission. To infiltrate the DWMA as a student, and find students willing to… “part with” the DWMA for his boss’s army. Or, students that could be convinced that it may not be the “best path” for them to walk down. Basically, he was a recruiter. They made it up the stairs. Teina was breathing heavily and slumped over. “So… Many…. Stairs,” she said, heavy of breath. Ikumi didn’t answer her. Something caught his attention. A guy, shouting from the rooftops? He decided to ignore the kid and head inside, Teina following close behind. That is, until the aforementioned kid jumped down, landing on his feet directly in front of him. -Black☆Star- Black☆Star landed in front of the new kid, and stood straight up. He pointed at the kid with his usual excitement. “That’s right! You’re about to be assassinated by the amazing Black☆Star! Yahoo!” The kid looked up at him, his expression not changing. “It’s not cool to jump in front of people like that. And besides, it’s not an assassination if you’ve been seen, you fool!” the new kid stated. The new kid had long, straight brown hair, and wore a nice suit. The suit was a light brown color, and he wore a white t-shirt with no tie. The girl had similar hair, a very cute face, and was wearing a light pink, yet short, skirt. “I hope you’re strong. I don’t want to have done my stretches getting ready for this for nothing.” “I’m not interested in fighting you, fool. I have better things to do with my time.” “Like what? You should be honored that you’re fighting the amazing Black☆Star and not some normal bozo. In fact, you’ll thank me for beating you to a pulp later because that’s how awesome I am! And besides that I’ve already got a supervisor watching!” -Mikamoto- While the other kid blabbed on, Ikumi decided to just get it over with. The kid did have a supervisor after all. “Ugh”, he groaned. “Transform Teina.” “Right.” Teina’s body glowed, and she transformed into a sawed-off shotgun. Ikumi aimed it and fired quickly, knocking the kid- what was his name again? Black☆Star?- to the ground. “Do you give yet? I don’t have time to fight with you.” Black☆Star jumped up. “Of course not! I never give up. I’m going to surpass God one day!” With that, he ran after Ikumi, and went to punch him, Ikumi dodged, grabbed his arm, and put himself behind him, firing his weapon at Black☆Star’s back, sending him flying into a nearby wall. Ikumi leaped into the air. He aimed Teina down toward Black☆Star. “12-shot Mass Strike.” He pressed the trigger of his weapon, unloading 12 shots of super-condensed soul wavelength down on Black☆Star in a little over 5 seconds. The shots spread over a large radius, but the move was a guaranteed hit. It always was. Ikumi landed. Teina left weapon form, transforming back into human form. Ikumi looked back at the dust cloud left by his attacks, but his eyes widened suddenly in surprise. Black☆Star had stood, and was only a little scratched. He pushed the rubble off of his back, and clenched his fist. “It’s gonna take a lot more than that to take me out. Is that all you got? Well, I don’t care. It’s my turn.” Black☆Star sprinted after him. Ikumi prepared himself. But… wait a moment? Did he suddenly become faster? An elbow came into his stomach, stunning him. Suddenly: “Finishing Strike: Black☆Star Big Wave!” A fist went into his stomach, followed by a massive blast of Soul Wavelength… -Black☆Star- “Heh. Another victory for the great Black☆Star.” Black☆Star looked up, and was surprised when he saw Ikumi smiling. “Is that all you got? Felt like a mosquito bite. Check out mine.” Ikumi raised his hand, fingertips curved inward, and palmed Black☆Star’s face with his own wavelength. A ton of pain went through his head, and then everything went black. -Tsubaki- She kept staring at Soul, when she heard an explosion. The others heard it too- Stein stopped attempting to dissect the raccoon that he found by his garbage can the night before, and Maka looked up from her book. Soul was observing the window. They each stood with the other students, and looked out. Tsubaki seen something. It was… “BLACK☆STAR!” The idiot had gotten into another fight with another new student. And from the looks of it, he lost. He was sitting in a crater, sizzling. Though Tsubaki and the others couldn’t hear it, he groaned. “Well, everybody kept telling him he was gonna get his ass kicked one day. Not our fault he didn’t listen,” Soul stated, very relaxed. Oh… his voice. It was amazing. She could hear it and feel it perfectly (even if she was worried about Black☆Star, which was most of the time.) That was it. She would wait only a little while longer. Today would be the day. She would finally ask him. Suddenly, the intercom came on. “All Death Scythes and their assigned meisters please report to the Death room immediately. I repeat, all Death Scythes and their assigned meisters report to the Death room.” Soul turned to Maka, confirming the rumor. “Let’s get going then.” Maka responded, “Right.” They left, headed for the death room, along with Stein. Tsubaki would have to wait a little longer… -Soul- Soul stood beside Maka in the middle of the death room. A new person had decided to visit. A reaper from the mysterious “Life City.” The numbers of secrets around that place were ridiculous. Very few of the Death Scythes actually knew anything about it. But now, apparently, they were going to know more. The reaper that had come to visit was wearing a costume similar to Lord Death’s, mask and all. The mask was half off of his face, which looked to be about Soul’s age. He had a calm and serious voice, a same seriousness reflected in his eyes. “As you know, the reaper council under the leadership of Lord Death here, have agreed to give the secrets around Life City into the hands of you Death Scythes. These are very important. Not things to end up in the wrong hands, as they have already once,” the reaper, who had introduced himself as Yuki Keito, explained. “That will be explained as well. As you know, Life City is the home of the grim reapers. It isn’t big; it has an overall population of 500 people, all either weapons or meisters. But the reason of its secrecy is a soul. The Earth’s Soul.” “The Earth’s soul? What is that?” Marie asked, bewildered somewhat. “I think I could explain it. It seems to be exactly as he says,” Stein responded. “I am guessing it is literally a soul of the Earth that connects all souls within it. Thus the reason why souls are capable of resonating with one another or even partnering together in the first place.” “Aren’t you a smart guy?” Yuki responded. “You’re almost exactly right. It does connect all souls; that is, except kishin eggs… and Shade souls. Which is the primary reason I am here and giving you this information. We have reason to believe the Earth soul is in danger.” Sudden small talk began around the room as the weapons and meisters questioned it and debated the subject. “Enough!” Yuki shouted, regaining their attention. “If you have any questions feel free to ask me.” Stein spoke again. “I have one. It connects all but Kishin and Shade souls. Why is that?” Yuki responded. “Shade souls are never connected to begin with. It is unknown why. However, Kishin eggs are a different story. The Earth soul itself is a pure soul, and can therefore only connect souls pure of heart. Those that stray from that path- Kishin eggs- are cut off to prevent from the corruption of the Earth soul from the moment they consume a fellow human soul not on Lord Death’s list. Most go mad soon after.” Soul decided to speak up. “I have a question as well. What are shade souls? I ain’t ever heard of them before.” “Shade souls are hybrid souls between weapons and witches. For some reason, they are not connected to the Earth soul; and consuming the soul of a shade results in one becoming a shade oneself. A shade is also capable of manifesting their weapon forms without transforming, not like autonomous weapons, but almost as if one was fighting inside of a soul. However, their most dangerous ability is a form of ‘resonance’. A dark resonance, the opposite of our own. They are also capable of magic; but only slightly, mainly spells involving the manipulation of soul wavelengths. Most of the time they are rare, and extremely powerful, and the reapers are the ones dealing with them. However, we’ve seen a significant rise in shades since the destruction of the kishin. And it also appears they are forming an army.” “An army?” It was Justin who spoke this time. “Yes. But it’s more than just the Shades themselves. They make up only part of the force. There are rumors of witch and kishin involvement as well. But on top of that: Weapons and Meisters from the DWMA are supposedly involved as well.” The whole room became filled with shock. Stein spoke. “Are you saying there are traitors within the DWMA?” “Yes, and they’re sheltering shades and recruiters as well. They’re preparing for a single consecutive strike against Life City; and with only 500 of us, put enough witches, kishin eggs, and meister/weapon pairs alongside the shades, and we don’t stand a chance.” “So you’re telling us to keep watch on each other and the other students of the academy for suspicious activity?” Maka asked. “Yes again. And to be prepared to mobilize in case of an attack.” Nygus spoke up this time, seemingly agitated. “Why should we help you? You reapers didn’t come through for us when the Kishin was ripping apart Death City-“ Yuki caught her by the face and put her against the wall. “Listen, sweet cheeks. The reapers of Life City are supposed to protect the Earth Soul, not come crawling to deal with every enemy that spawns up. That’s what you and the rest of the DWMA were established for. If the Kishin Asura had come after Life City, you could damn well guarantee we would have ripped his ass to shreds, ya hear? The Earth Soul is different. It goes, we all go. The world becomes inhabited by nothing but Shades and Kishin. And you wouldn’t want that, now would you?” He let her go. She landed on her feet, and began to breath heavily. “Now, do you all understand the situation? Good. You are dismissed.” He left, and the others began to follow him out. Lord Death stopped Soul and Maka before they could leave. “Oh, Maka, Soul, don’t leave yet. I have another mission I must brief you on.” Soul turned around. “Shoot.” “As you know, Medusa Gorgon was experimenting with Black Blood. And she also now dead. However, there are a mysterious couple of twin kishin eggs who seem to have gained access to Black Blood. This leads me to believe that another witch has decided to experiment with it. And she should align herself with the Shades, then there will be a lot more trouble than we would be able to handle at the moment.” “Ok. So catch me up a little.” “The witch I am suspecting is called Kureneko Onmyouza. I want you to investigate this. The twins were last seen in Munich, Germany.” Maka responded, “Ok. We’ll look into it.” They left soon after. -Ikumi- Ikumi looked about. He was a little happy with himself. Already, he had found the assigned protégé that would be showing him the recruitable students. A meister named Ox Ford, an almost bald-headed geek with spiral-eyed goggles. He was a spear meister to a weapon named Harvar, one who had no idea of who his meister actually was. He walked by Ox, who handed him a folded piece of paper by touching hands passing by. Ikumi slipped the paper into his pocket, Teina following him close behind. It was sad really, they were going to have to break up a weapon and meister to achieve their goals. Maybe two or three. But it was more of a good thing than it seemed. Ox was a member of the elite weapon/meister group Spartoi, which meant he more than likely had more inside information on the DWMA than the Shadow Army originally planned to receive. They entered the Library, where Ikumi picked up a random book. He pulled out the paper sneakily, and placed in one of the pages, pretending to be reading the book. He skimmed the list, careful for names to catch his eye. Recruitable students. Students who are not all loyal to the DWMA, can be swayed by the offering of money and/or bribed, or exceedingly vulnerable to manipulation of their views, ''he remembered the definition that Lord S gave him. He continued skimming the list. ''Irunai Tasaki: Weapon of Takeda Umagani, Gy Nobuga: Meister of Sydney Yubin, John Hoskin: Meister of Rykuga Hisagi… '' A name caught his eye, surprising him. ''Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, weapon of… ''BLACK☆STAR?! ''OH MY FREAKING GOD, THAT GUY OF ALL PEOPLE! NO WONDER SHE’S RECRUITABLE IF SHE’S PARTNERED WITH THAT IDIOT! I FEEL SORRY FOR HER, WHAT AN ASS! While he was ranting inside of his head, he came to a sudden realization: he hadn’t seen her with that hothead today when they were fighting. Why was that? His thoughts were interrupted by a door flying off its hinges. “I AM HERE, THE AMAZING BLACK☆STAR, TO DO RESEARCH ON COMIC BOOKS ABOUT PEOPLE ALMOST AS BIG AS I AM!” NOT THIS IDIOT, NOT AT A TIME LIKE THIS. He thought to himself. Black☆Star noticed him, much to his dismay. Black☆Star pointed at him with his index finger. “HEY, YOU. YEAH YOU. YOU HAVE BEEN HONORED WITH ANOTHER CHALLENGE FROM THE AMAZING BLACK☆STAR! I’M NOT GONNA HOLD BACK THIS TIME, YA HEAR! I’M GOING TO SURPASS THE GODS ONE DAY AND THAT FIRST REQUIRES ME TO CORRECT THE RUMOR THAT YOU ACTUALLY BEAT ME!” Ikumi was going to respond, until he noticed something. “Black☆Star, please! This isn’t the time, not in the Library!” a girl followed after him, with long black hair, a sailor girl’s outfit. “Hey what are you looking at right there?” Black☆Star, about to peek over shoulders until Ikumi shut the book. “I was reading before you so rudely interrupted me. It’s not cool to do that kind of stuff,” Ikumi responded. “Rude? It’s rude to shut a book in my face too! It’s practically a crime to do that! Open that back up!” Black☆Star attempted to get the book from his hand. Ikumi put a foot in his stomach attempting to shove him away. “Get off me, you idiot!” -Tsubaki- Tsubaki just stood there, mouth wide open in shock. Black☆Star was going to get himself into trouble again. She didn’t want to have to do it, but, there was a first time for everything. *TSUBAKI CHOP!* Black☆Star was slumped over with an indent in his head. Tsubaki held a book in her hand, just like Maka would have done. “I’m sorry Black☆Star but that was for your own good! It’s no wonder you keep getting into fights all the time! -.-“ “Tsubaki, why did you do that, you’ve never hit me before, my expectations of what you’re going to do just got taken away I’m gonna miss them,” he said, groaning. “I’m so sorry for the trouble he’s caused, mister! He’s a really good person when you get to know him.” Tsubaki smiled. The new kid responded, “I’ll keep that in mind.” A little while later, after Black☆Star had ran off again, this time without her following him, Tsubaki noticed that Soul and Maka were getting ready to go somewhere. Now’s my chance, ''she thought. ''It’s now or never. '' “Hey Soul.” “Hey Tsubaki.” “Can I talk to alone for a second?” Maka heard. She went off somewhere else, excusing herself with a smile on her face, almost as though she knew what Tsubaki was going to do. Soul looked at her with his cute sharky grin. “Sure. So what is it?” Tsubaki stared him down. “Soul, will you be with me?” -Soul- Soul was stunned. He wanted to. But he couldn’t. He loved her. But he couldn’t be any more than friends with her… '''Flashback ' Yuki observed all the people within the Death Room. ' '“Now, before we get started, there is a rule that I must inform you of. After I reveal these secrets to you, you are expressly forbidden to have and above-average personal relations with anyone who is not a Death Scythe or Meister of a Death Scythe.” ' He had to come up with an excuse… fast. He wasn’t thinking, his mind was racing. The only thought that went through his head was ''What do I do? What do I do? '' “I can’t. Dating girls is uhh… uncool, right now.” ''Shit. You could’ve planned that better, Soul. '' Tsubaki looked at him, hurt. She wasn’t letting it show, but she was. “Oh… I understand.” She turned and began to walk away. Soul stopped her. “Hey, don’t beat yourself up. We’re still friends, right?” She looked at him, and smiled. “Of course!” She turned back and walked away. ''I think I just made her feel worse. Way to go, Soul. Terrible with girls since 1990. '' -Tsubaki- It was late at night. She was headed back to her apartment she shared with Black☆Star, still crying over Soul’s rejection. Suddenly, she heard something. Next thing she sees: A pair of claws rushing across her abdomen. She is barely able to dodge. It was a Kishin Egg! Without Black☆Star she wasn’t able to fight, she wasn’t an autonomous weapon. She kept dodging, every attack getting closer and closer. The Kishin had long black hair, a white face. Its mouth was cut in a Chelsey grin, and its eyes were black as coal. Was she facing her death here? The egg prepared itself for another attack, when suddenly. “Kishin egg Jeffy the Killer, your soul is mine!” She look up. There was… the new kid? He held in his hand a sawed-off shotgun, aimed right at Jeffy. “Heh. It’s time for you to go to sleep. I’ll take your soul along with this little wench. Heh heh heh. He sprinted at the new kid with almost lightning speed. -Ikumi- Mikamoto saw the attack before it even happened. “Fire shot,” he said calmly. Teina confirmed, and fired a pink colored bullet at Jeffy. The bullet exploded into flames, catching him on fire. Ikumi jumped into the air. “Teina, switchblade mode!” “Got it!” Teina transformed into a switchblade. He landed and lunged at Jeffy, stabbing him in the gullet. Jeffy fell over, dead. His body deteriorated, leaving only the soul. Teina went to her human form. She picked the soul up, but instead of eating it, handed it to Tsubaki. “Here, you take it. It’s yours.” “No, I couldn’t accep-“ “No. I insist.” “Ok. Thank you?” Tsubaki absorbed the soul hesitantly. Ikumi went up to her. “I forgot to introduce myself to you. I’m Ikumi Mikamoto.” “I’m Tsubaki.” He seen the girl look down. He had heard rumors as that she had asked a Death Scythe out, and was rejected. She was hurting. And he knew why. Now would be the best time to attempt to recruit her. “What’s wrong with you?” “I was rejected. Brutally.” She began to cry. “There there. I can tell you why he rejected you. He wasn’t thinking for doing so that harshly. But I’m sure he shares the feelings. The only problem is: he’s being forced to keep secrets from you. He’s forbidden from dating you.” She began to explain things to him, and he would respond. His plan was working. Excellently… -Tsubaki- She couldn’t believe the things he was telling her. So many questions raced through her mind, but was more present was the anger of the things she wasn’t told. The things that made her able to forgive Soul but become imbued with hatred for the very organization they both fought loyally for. ''How? Why? When? How does he know these things? Why would the DWMA do such things? When did they decide to keep secrets from the people who fight for them, to forbid a love from blossoming for the sake of a soul we know nothing about? '' Ikumi pushed her face up gently. “Listen. I want you to think about… other options. See, I’m no loyal student myself. I’m a spy for this “other option”. Here’s the card. Think about it. It may be the chance to liberate your friends from all the secrets the Death Scythes and Reapers hold. It may grant you the chance to ''gain this boy’s love.” He handed her a card. Tsubaki looked up, aghast, but in turmoil. Ikumi and Teina began to walk away. “Wait!” Ikumi turned. “How do you know all this?” “Let’s just say I have my sources,” he smiled. As he turned, Tsubaki stopped him again. “How can I ever repay you for this?” He smiled again, “Just don’t mention my name and we’ll call it even.” She smiled and nodded. She looked down at the card: ''The Shadow Army '' ''The Army for the liberation of the Shades and Humans from the DWMA. '' ''Lord S: Open a window to 45-564-6565. Please have a recruiter or assigned protégé with you at time of contact. ' ''Lord S, huh? ''She thought to herself. She stuck the card in her pocket. She was unsure of what to do. Betray her friends for their own good, or stay loyal to an organization forbidding a love for the sake of a soul? She would think about it. She would think about it for a long time. Category:Episodes Category:The Shadow Army Arc